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An endowment policy is a life insurance contract that is designed to pay a lump sum after a specified term. Typically, maturities end in ten, fifteen or twenty years. Once the total amount is paid off, your insurance contract ends. There are some policies, however, that mix whole life with endowment, in which a certain amount is paid on specified times or intervals, then a lump sum is paid after the insured’s death. Endowments can be cashed in early (or ‘surrendered’) and the holder then receives the surrender value which is determined by the insurance company depending on how long the policy has been running and how much has been paid in to it. In a way, endowments can be viewed as “forced savings”. Endowments are ideal for those who want some form of insurance protection, but also want to be able to get some of their money back.